


The Controversy

by Smiling_Seshat



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Conspiracy, Fix-It, Gen, Identity Reveal, Plot Twists, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 03:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smiling_Seshat/pseuds/Smiling_Seshat
Summary: In June of 2012, online content-creator ManningTheStern stated that she would be celebrating her upcoming two million subscribers in July with a face reveal. This caused quite a buzz, as her followers had only ever heard her voice.This event, which should have been a popular one on Youtube but largely irrelevant anywhere else, ended up causing a world-wide controversy by unearthing a conspiracy about human cloning.





	The Controversy

ManningTheStern’s Youtube account was created in early 2007. The first video was posted barely an hour after the account was created, and consisted of a long and emotional rant about the movie Titanic, which ManningTheStern had seen for the first time on that same day. Her account name, by her own admission, was inspired by said movie and she claimed that “if I had been on that boat, I’d want one of those fancy uniforms and I’d probably be manning the ship’s stern or something.”

Despite a very naval-themed name, ManningTheStern only ever posted videos about movies or occasionally, about TV series. For three years, her channel was essentially unknown, with a small and very negligible growth in subscribers, until she posted a long and in-depth video about the movie Inception, which had recently come out in theatres.

That video gained unexpected traction and made ManningTheStern’s subscribers grow exponentially.

Her various videos were humorous looks at popular movies, with an analysis of various plot holes and what would have happened if the story had been realistic. Her sarcasm and biting comments about stupid moments in movies had made her acquire a small but loyal fan-base, which exploded to nearly ten times its original size after the Inception video.

ManningTheStern capitalized on her sudden popularity by focusing more on recent, popular movies instead of whatever movie had taken her fancy. This helped her gain even more followers, giving her quite a bit of notoriety as a casual content creator.

In February of 2012, ManningTheStern’s channel reached 500’000 subscribers. She celebrated by posting an hour-long video about the Harry Potter movies, which became one of her most viewed videos.

Two months later, her subscriber count had doubled, and she thanked her viewers for reaching a million followers by publishing a video of her thoughts on various vampire movies, starting with classics and ending with the popular Twilight series, which had its last movie coming out later in the year and was subject to a lot of hype.

In June of 2012, online content-creator ManningTheStern stated that she would be celebrating her upcoming two million subscribers in July with a face reveal. This caused quite a buzz, as her followers had only ever heard her voice.

This event, which should have been a popular one on Youtube but largely irrelevant anywhere else, ended up causing a world-wide controversy by unearthing a conspiracy about human cloning.

**My long-awaited face reveal!**

Posted by ManningtheStern

10th of July, 2012

Comments:

**carotstub** omg your super pretty irl, manning!

**mlogo** Do you think you could post a video about the Thor movie? You did Captain America already, but you haven’t said anything about Thor. 

**Mundane112** I really like your clothes. You know if you posted videos where we can see your face youd get a lot more views.

**Sam A** Hey, do you live in Belgium? There’s a girl who lives down the street who looks exactly like you.

> **Butterman** Dude no doxxing 

> **crafting studios** yeah, if you know her RL identity, don’t start spreading it around 

> **Kyuubi** ManningTheStern is from Belgium?! With her accent I thought she was British.

**ronin** You look beautiful! This face reveal was worth it.

> **HairlessApe** I know, right? So much prettier than I expected.

**fantasticaO.o** Is that you, Katja? Are you wearing a wig? Oh my gosh, you’re like my favourite youtuber and I never even knew! Your voice sounds so different. I didn’t know your english was that good. It’s me, Anna, from uni!

**Gfan** Congrats on 2M subs! You deserve it, Manning.

**SourceDrey** Will we be seeing your face again in future videos or will they be audio only?

**morbid273** I’ve been with you since the LotR video and I gotta say congratulations for reaching this milestone. Can’t wait to see you reach 3m.

**Agnes Mont** It took so long to reach 1M, and now you got to 2m not even a year later. Impressive

**mii** Hey, weird question, ManningTheStern: Are you adopted? Because I look exactly like you, as in, we could be twins. I always thought I was an only child but this face-reveal has me wondering if my mother gave up my twin sister for adoption, because we have the exact same face.

> **xxxRaven-of-Deathxxx** Desperate, much? 

> **Sarah Connor** come up with a better lie, dude. 

> **mii** I’m not lying. Here’s a picture of me as proof: link

> **PakingForVacation** holy shit its true. So are you MTS’s long lost sister or something? 

> **HairlessApe** Oh my god. Manning has to see this. Everyone, like the comment so it gets popular enough for her to notice it! 

> **Eatern** It’s fake. Anyone could take a screen shot of MTS’s face and glue it on someone else’s neck. 

> **The_Winged_One** If it was fake, then the makeup would be identical to MTS’s. Mii has her makeup done differently, her hair is lighter (either MTS dyed it or Mii bleached hers a bit) and the eyebrows aren’t plucked the same way.

> **crafting studios** Or you guys could think for a few seconds and realize there have been plenty of cases of people meeting someone who looks exactly like them. Isn’t there a saying about how since there are so many humans on Earth, every person has to have a doppelganger somewhere in the world?

**WelshDragon** MTS, do you think you could do a video on the movie Coraline?

> **D47gop1** Yes please, do Coraline!

**SaMajestéLaReine** What kind of software do you use to do your editing?

**Today is tomorrow** Congratulations for 2 million subscriptions!

**BalloonInTheSky** I’m pretty sure I’ve been in a meeting with her in RL. Link: Dyad Institute Exceeded This Year’s Financial Expectation by 2.53%, claims CEO Rachel Duncan.

> **FeiFei** Wow, MTS is smarter than she looks.

> **whitecat** She looks amazing in business clothes.

> **Plot-is-eating** It’s obviously not her. How do you explain the difference in hair length?

> **spookyyahoo** A wig, duh

**oneuponanidiot** Congratulations MTS for the 2M.

**Echoingalice** Wow you reached 2m so fast!!

**Peachblossom** An hour long video? We are so blessed!

**Emerald_Sun** Will future videos have you showing your face again?

Click for more comments

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, one thing that always bugged me about Orphan Black is the thought that if any of the clones became an overnight celebrity, Neolution would have no way of covering it up and her face would be plastered everywhere, leading various clones in the world to think 'hey, how come I look like her?'
> 
> This is a one-shot. I might add a second chapter if people want more about the aftermath.
> 
> And yes, Sarah's username is the most unoriginal one ever and she pretended it was a reference to the Titanic to hide the fact that she used her own surname in her username.


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